Grapes of Wrath: Suggestions for Critical Essays
1. Discuss Steinbeck's seemingly contradictory notions of religion that we find in the Grapes of Wrath.
Thesis: In the GofW, Steinbeck calls us all to reject traditional organized religions and instead embrace a transcendental religion where all people are holy.
You may want to consider the following points:
Condemnation of traditional religion:
a) Jim Casey's giving up the priesthood because he doesn't believe in it anymore.
b) The old lady at Weedpatch & her fanaticism.
c) The fact that the preachers wouldn't come to Weedpatch when the community refused to let them take up a collection.
d) The fact that most of the religious metaphors in the book are "twisted": (Noah doesn't deliver his arc, but abandons it.)
Call to embrace transcendent religion:
a) Steinbeck is concerned with religion because he uses religious metaphors.
b) Jim Casey's religious awakening (Muley Graves)
c) Jim Casey's sacrifice at the Hooverville camp
d) Jim Casey's desert experience in the jail
e) Jim Casey's active ministry organizing unions.
f) His death and resurrection in Tom Joad.
g) Rose of Sharon's change from a selfish girl to a woman who adopts the world as her child. Her transformation into the Madonna.
2. What is Steinbeck's political message in "The Grapes of Wrath"? Why did he write this? Does he allow for the possibility of change or hope given the bleakness of the story?
Thesis: Steinbeck has a definite political message in "The Grapes of Wrath," and one which allows us to hope.
Topic Summary: He first shows us the sickness of capitalism, then reveals the greed of men who own huge tracts of land, and finally shows us some real political solutions which eventually allow us to hope.
Evidence:
a) Criticism of the banks as "monsters" because they are disconnected from people.
b) Criticism of the landowners as insensitive for being out of touch with the land.
d) The cruelty of the landowners who use their corrupt power to work men to death and manipulate them to work for slave wages.
e) The harmony at Weedpatch
f) The signs of hope, p 556, in the spring (end of chapter 29)
3. What does Steinbeck have to say about the concept of "family"? What does he eventually mean by the word? What does the word mean to the Joads?
Thesis: Steinbeck believes that we can only survive if the entire society works together as a community. He expands the meaning of "family" to include all people, and claims, in his book, that we have a responsiblity to each of our family members.
Topic Summary: Steinbeck first shows us people with a limited notion of family, then shows us the importance of staying together. Finally, he presents us with a scene that symbolizes the kind of response we should show to the world: we should adopt all men and women as our brothers and sisters.
Evidence: a) People who tear the houses down
b) Ma Joad's insistence upon staying together as a family (jack-handle scene)
c) Her pain over Tom going/ Tom realizing that brotherhood is universal
d) Rose of Sharon's suckling of the starving man as a sign of her adopting the human race and as a sign of her growing from a selfish girl to a mature woman.
4. Show how the turtle symbolizes the Joad family. Discuss all the aspects of the turtle's journey.
Thesis: Steinbeck, at the very beginning of the book, shows us how to read this book, and gives us a capsule summary of the story symbolized by the journey of a turtle across a highway.
Topic Summary: The turtle shows the qualities of the Joads, runs into obstacles as the Joads do, and plants a seed along the way, just as the Joads plant their seeds throughout this story.